When doing research in a library database or using an Internet search engine, there are strategies that you can employee to make your search more effective. In any search, it is important to go with a plan and knowledge how to navigate the search process so that you can get the best results.
Every database and search engine is different and you may have to do some reading and exploration to discover how to best to do your search. This page will help you locate useful databases and search engines and will introduce search strategies for several databases and search engines.
Strawberry AND Vanilla AND Chocolate
Strawberry OR Vanilla OR Chocolate
(Strawberry OR Vanilla) NOT Chocolate
Truncation allows you to search for a term and its variations. The symbol used for truncation is *
Wildcards can be used in place of one letter within a word. This is useful when you are unsure of the spelling of the word or when there is more than one way to spell the word. The most common wildcard symbol is ?
| Database | Truncation of Wildcard Symbol | Examples |
| EBSCOhost |
* Represents zero or more characters ? Represents exactly one character |
comput* would find records containing computer, computer, computing ne?t will find records containing neat, nest, next, etc. |
| Gale |
* Represents zero or more character ! Represents zero or one character ? Represents exactly one character |
pigment* will find records containing pigment, pigments, pigmentation product! matches product and products but not productive or productivity wom?n will find records containing woman and women |
| JSTOR | + Represents plural forms |
cat+ will find cat and cats box+ will find fox and boxes quiz+ will find quiz and quizzes |
| LexisNexis |
* Represents exactly one character ! Represents zero or more characters |
Bernst**n will find records containing Bernstein or Bernstien acqui! will find records containing acquire, acquired, acquiring, acquisition |
| Proquest |
* Represents zero or more characters ? Represents exactly one character |
educat* will find records containing educator, educated, and education educat?? will find records containing educator or educated but not education |
| Search for an exact word or phrase "search query" |
Use quotes to search for an exact word or set of words in a specific order, without normal improvements such as spelling corrections and synonyms. This option is handy when searching for song lyrics or a line from literature. [ "imagine all the people" ] Tip: Only use this if you're looking for a very precise word or phrase, because otherwise you could be excluding helpful results by mistake. |
| Exclude a word -query |
Add a dash (-) before a word to exclude all results that include that word. This is especially useful for synonyms like Jaguar the car brand and jaguar the animal. [ jaguar speed -car ] Tip: You can also exclude results based on other operators, like excluding all results from a specific site. |
| Include similar words ~query |
Normally, synonyms might replace some words in your original query. Add a tilde sign (~) immediately in front of a word to search for that word as well as even more synonyms. [ ~food facts ] includes results for "nutrition facts" |
| Search within a site or domain site: query |
Include "site:" to search for information within a single website like all mentions of "Olympics" on the New York Times website. [ Olympics site:nytimes.com ] Tip: Also search within a specific top-level domain like .org or .edu or country top-level domain like .de or .jp. |
| Include a "fill in the blank" query * query |
Use an asterisk (*) within a query as a placeholder for any unknown or "wildcard" terms. Use with quotation marks to find variations of that exact phrase or to remember words in the middle of a phrase. [ "a * saved is a * earned" ] |
| Search for either word query OR query |
If you want to search for pages that may have just one of several words, include OR (capitalized) between the words. Without the OR, your results would typically show only pages that match both terms. You can also use the | symbol between words for the same effect. [ olympics location 2014 OR 2018 ] Tip: Enclose phrases in quotes to search for either one of several phrases. |
| Search for a number range number..number |
Separate numbers by two periods (with no spaces) to see results that contain numbers in a given range of things like dates, prices, and measurements. [ camera $50..$100] Tip: Use only one number with the two periods to indicate an upper maximum or a lower minimum. |
http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=136861
|
AND & |
Finds webpages that contain all the terms or phrases ex: dog AND cat |
|
NOT - |
Excludes webpages that contain a term ex: climbing NOT rock |
|
OR | |
Finds webpages that contain either term ex: dog OR cat |
|
"" |
Returns results that contain the specified phrase, exactly ex: "Ivy Tech Community College" |
| domain: |
Limits results to a specific domain ex: election domain:in.gov |
| feed: |
finds RSS or Atom feeds pertaining to your term ex: feed:surfing |
| near: |
Constrains the distance between terms in a document ex: dog near:10 cat |
| site: |
Returns webpages that belong to a specified site "heart disease" (site:bbc.co.uk OR site:cnn.com) |